Content Area: Social Science
Level: Secondary
Presenters: Yvonne Garcia, Judi Ruggiero-Reed, Sarah Nelson, & Meaghan Sussman, Vanden High School, Travis Unified School District

Abstract:
Getting teenagers to appreciate the importance of the direct primary, the gold standard, totalitarianism or other social science concepts can be extremely difficult, especially in a world where they are constantly distracted from these very esoteric concepts. In this session, we will share ideas and materials for activities that integrate social science and pop culture in an effort to both increase initial student buy-in to the subject matter and help students understand how these concepts permeate their day-to-day lives. Students have a vast knowledge base in the use of technology and pop culture; these outside of school literacies can act as a conduit to student learning. Activities include creating video profiles of major figures in U.S. history as well as videos that “sell” economics and posting them on YouTube, creating MySpace profiles for totalitarian leaders (like Hitler, Stalin and Franco) and analyzing song lyrics to find the political message in songs students know and enjoy.